Obscure Chinese phone cos plan to foray into Indian market

Chinese products will be, predictably , fiercely price-competitive. And India is the first market they will target in a big wayGulveen Aulakh | ET Bureau | March 18, 2017, 07:32 IST

A Tinno phone? Or a Huaqin or a Malata? The world's second largest and fastest growing mobile phone market is about to be flooded by virtually unheard of Chinese brands. Not to forget Infinix and Cat phones -products from other countries that are relatively less known but have big plans for India.

Most of them are looking at the feature phone to smartphone feature phone to smartphone conversion market -only 300 million of 1 billion phone users in India have smartphones -as well as at feature phones.

Chinese products will be, predictably , fiercely price-competitive. And India is the first market they will target in a big way under their own brand name.These companies usually make their money by making phones for better-known brands.

One little known Chinese brand has already entered India -iVoomi launched four smartphone models a few days back.“Original equipment makers or even original design making companies that have been so far confined to China, such as Tinno, Malata and Huaqin, are also preparing to come to India because China's market itself has slowed down,“ said a senior industry executive. He did not want to be named as he recently moved on from a local handset maker.

Emails to Shenzen-based Tinno and Shanghai-headquartered Huaqin did not elicit responses, while Malata Mobiles, also based out of Shenzen, could not be reached for comment.

Chinese brands have already taken four out of the top five slots in India's smartphone segment: Xiaomi at No 2, followed by Lenovo, Oppo and Vivo. The share of China-based vendors is a huge 46% for the October-December 2016 quarter. Their shipments doubled over the same period last year, as per IDC data.